GEEK News
June 05, 2015 - 01:04 PM
New leash on life: Why this Tableau vet walked away from tech to roll with the dogs
Eric Howard, founder of Dog Tired, rides his One Wheel while running Boone, a golden retriever, near Lake Tapps, Wash. (Photo courtesy of DogTired) It’s tough to tell who has the bigger smile: the guy zipping by on the Onewheel, the dog running alongside him at full sprint, or the passersby lucky enough to witness it. This is Eric Howard‘s dream job. Howard is the founder and chief dog...
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Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of March 29, 2026
Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of March 29, 2026. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on GeekWire Rec Room, the Seattle-based social gaming platform once valued at $3.5 billion, is shutting...
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Amazon meets FedEx Office: A seamless return and one very dumb question about stamps
A microchip pet door awaits its fate at the FedEx Office on NW 46th Street in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) For a while now, since the closure of the Amazon Fresh Pickup in Seattle, I’ve been complaining about having to drive across the Ballard Bridge to Whole Foods to do my Amazon returns. So when news emerged that FedEx Office locations are now part of Amazon’s drop-off...
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Rec Room shutdown, robot umps, torpedo bats, FedEx meets Amazon, and OpenAI’s odd media buy
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Rec Room, the Seattle-based social gaming platform once valued at $3.5 billion, is shutting down — and Snap is picking up some of the pieces. Todd talks about what it was like fielding calls from distraught users on the night of the announcement. John offers his thoughts on what the shutdown says about the VR hype cycle, and whether everyone betting on...
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Tech Moves: Microsoft execs depart; TerraClear, UserTesting, EchoMark and Read AI add leaders
Joy Chik. (LinkedIn Photo) — Joy Chik announced she will retire from Microsoft in July after nearly three decades. Her eight roles there ranged from software design engineer to her current title: president of identity and network access. “I’m excited to expand my public company board work while also building new muscles in the startup, angel investing, and venture capital spaces, partnering...
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Rubin Observatory team discovers 11,000 new asteroids, with help from University of Washington software
A model of the inner solar system shows asteroids discovered by the Rubin Observatory in light teal. Previously known asteroids are dark blue. The model highlights almost 12,700 asteroids that the Rubin team has discovered over the course of a year and a half. (Photo: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory / NOIRLab / SLAC / AURA / R. Proctor. Star map: NASA / GSFC Scientific Visualization Studio....
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Flat tire? Dead battery? Speedy’s serves stranded Seattle riders as a quicker e-bike picker-upper
Speedy’s fouder Tyler Swartz with the electric van he uses to pick up and drop off e-bikes. (Speedy’s Photo) If you’ve ever tried to lift and fit a big, heavy e-bike into the back of a car, Tyler Swartz feels your pain, and went to work on a solution. Swartz, a Seattle native and cycling enthusiast, is the founder of Speedy’s, a roadside service for e-bike owners who are stranded by a flat...
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Stop trying to make people read instructions: 10 startup lessons from Convoy co-founder Dan Lewis
Convoy co- founder and Microsoft Corporate Vice President Dan Lewis at the Seattle AI Startup Summit on April 2, 2026. (Ken Yeung Photo) Dan Lewis’ career is hard to summarize in a sentence. He was a product manager at Microsoft, then an early employee at the Seattle AI startup Wavii, which Google later acquired. He made a stop at Amazon before ultimately boomeranging back to Microsoft, where...
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Ground control to Microsoft: Artemis 2 astronauts deal with Outlook hiccup in deep space
Artemis 2 astronauts are using Microsoft Surface Pro computers on board the Orion spacecraft. (GeekWire Illustration) Updated below with details from NASA press conference. Bound for the Moon, astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft experienced a challenge familiar to many of us back here on terra firma: Microsoft Outlook. Commander Reid Wiseman radioed Mission Control on the...
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Startup launched by former AWS energy team emerges with $7M to help solve data center power crunch
Soma Energy’s co-founders, from left: CEO Ath Caramanolis, Chief Technology Officer Mario Souto and Chief AI Scientist Henrique Hoeltgebaum. (Soma Energy Photos) Soma Energy, a startup founded by former Amazon energy managers, emerged from stealth Thursday with $7 million in funding. The Vancouver, B.C.-based company has built an AI platform serving power producers and data centers,...
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This video on Seattle’s KEXP has music fans celebrating human creativity in an age of AI slop
Seattle independent radio station KEXP prides itself on being a leader in new music discovery. They may have moved the bar up several notches with a band and video that is going viral on YouTube. The performance by Canadian duo Angine de Poitrine, playing live during the Trans Musicales festival last December in France, was uploaded to KEXP on Feb. 5. Since then it’s attracted more than...
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Like digital paper dolls: New Armoire feature uses AI to show an array of choices in outfit selection
Armoire’s “Outfit Inspiration” feature allows shoppers to cycle through a number of options for pieces to create the right outfit. (Armoire Image) Seattle-based online clothing rental company Armoire is leaning into the AI in fashion with a new feature called “Outfit Inspiration” that allows customers to create desired looks in an instant from dozens of available style and size...
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GeekWire Awards: From the farm to space, Next Tech Titan finalists growing to meet big challenges
(Company logos) The path from successful startup to industry heavyweight is often marked by the ability to solve massive, complex problems at scale — whether those challenges are on a farm, battlefield or in low-Earth orbit. This GeekWire Award, presented by Baird, takes notice of the next dominant force in Pacific Northwest tech. The Next Tech Titan finalists are: Overland AI, Carbon...
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‘Wood is wood’: WSU research finds Yankees’ viral ‘torpedo’ bats perform the same as traditional bats
A research team determined that the torpedo bat, left, and traditional bat perform equally well in hitting power with only a slight difference in the location of the bat’s sweet spot (WSU Photo / Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture) The New York Yankees just cruised through Seattle and won two out of three games against the Mariners. On the other side of Washington state, the Bronx...
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Microsoft releases new AI models to expand further beyond OpenAI
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) Microsoft is expanding its roster of in-house AI models, releasing a new speech-to-text system and making two existing models broadly available to developers for the first time. The moves by Microsoft AI (MAI) are part of a broader effort by the company to expand its proprietary AI capabilities beyond its...
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From kelp pots to kilns: UW’s CoMotion Labs reveals 8 startups joining its newest climate cohort
Emily Power, CEO of Ocean Made, shows the difference in the root structure of tomato plants grown in the startup’s kelp-based pots, on the left, versus plastic pots. (Ocean Made Photo) The University of Washington’s CoMotion Labs has selected the second cohort of startups for its Climate Tech Incubator. The founders are tackling wide-ranging sustainability challenges including boosting EV...
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‘Let’s go!’ NASA launches humanity’s first moon voyage in nearly 54 years
NASA’s Space Launch System rises from its Florida launch pad, sending the Artemis 2 crew into orbit. (NASA via YouTube) After years of postponements and close to $100 billion in spending, NASA has launched the first mission to send astronauts around the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The 10-day Artemis 2 mission began today with the liftoff of NASA’s 322-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket...
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Report puts Seattle among leading global innovation cities, but it needs more premium office space
The downtown Seattle skyline. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Seattle has officially leveled up from a “secondary” tech market to a critical “reinforcer” of the global innovation economy — but the city is running out of room to grow, according to a new report. The latest edition of commercial real estate firm JLL’s Innovation Geographies report reveals that while Seattle is...
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On Apple’s 50th, recalling the time a Microsoft engineer drove Steve Jobs so crazy he invented the iPad
David Pogue’s new book, “Apple: The First 50 Years,”is packed with stories about the rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. But one stands out above the rest. In late 2005, Steve Jobs attended the 50th birthday party of a Microsoft engineer, the husband of a friend of his wife, Laurene. Over dinner, the guy lectured Jobs on how Microsoft had solved the future of computing with a tablet and...
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Robinhood sues WA state to block enforcement of gambling laws against prediction markets
Robinhood isn’t waiting to get sued in Washington state. The financial services company filed a preemptive federal suit against Washington’s attorney general and gambling commission, arguing the state can’t use its gambling laws to shut down prediction market trading that it contends is authorized under federal commodities law. The suit comes a few days after Washington Attorney...
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GeekWire Awards: Sustainable Innovation finalists tackle energy, fashion and farming
Finalists for GeekWire’s 2026 Sustainable Innovation Award, from left going clockwise: Helion Energy fusion device (Helion Photo), OCOchem team (OCOchem Photo), TerraPower’s mock fuel rods (TerraPower Photo), Ravel team (Ravel Photo), and IUNU’s image capturing system. (IUNU Photo) Climate change is battering the earth with record-setting high temperatures, more powerful storms...
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Donations meet disruption: Nonprofits navigate the AI era with mix of enthusiasm and anxiety
A delivery of medical supplies by Project C.U.R.E. (Project C.U.R.E. Photo) [Editor’s Note: Agents of Transformation is an independent GeekWire series, underwritten by Accenture, exploring the adoption and impact of AI and agents. See coverage of our related event.] Project C.U.R.E. had the answers. Decades of repair manuals for X-ray machines, anesthesia equipment and other medical...
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Oracle cuts 491 jobs in Washington state as it embraces AI-led engineering
Oracle’s Cloud Experience Center in downtown Seattle. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Oracle is laying off 491 employees in Washington state, according to a filing Tuesday from the state Employment Security Department. The cuts impact workers at two Seattle offices as well as remote employees and take effect June 1. The cloud and database giant stated in its WARN letter that the offices...
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Seattle VR gaming studio Polyarc announces ‘significant’ layoffs
Moss: Book II. (Polyarc screenshot) Polyarc, the Seattle-based VR gaming developer behind the award-winning Moss series, announced that it’s had to “significantly reduce the size of the company.” The announcement, via LinkedIn on Monday, notes that the layoffs come after “an unsuccessful team-wide effort to secure funding following the cancellation of a major project.” The company, which...
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Latest Meta layoffs target 168 employees in Washington state
Meta’s Dexter Station office in Seattle. (Meta Photo) Another round of layoffs at Meta will affect 168 employees in Washington state, according to a filing from the state Employment Security Department. The cuts are part of a broader reduction impacting hundreds of Meta workers around the U.S. “Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they’re in the best...
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‘I don’t think anything will ever replace Rec Room’: Fans shocked by gaming platform shutdown
(Rec Room Image) The despair among Rec Room players is real. Users of the popular social gaming platform expressed their disbelief and sadness over the demise of the Seattle-based company, which announced Monday that it is shutting down on June 1, and that some of its assets are being acquired by Snap. Rec Room — ranked No. 49 on the GeekWire 200 ranked index of the Pacific Northwest’s...
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AI startup Oumi, from Microsoft and Google vets, launches commercial platform for custom AI models
A Seattle startup founded by former Google and Microsoft engineers is betting that companies will increasingly want to build and own smaller, specialized AI models rather than relying on general-purpose alternatives from the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Oumi, which launched its open-source platform last year, moved into its commercial phase Tuesday with technology that it says...
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Tech Moves: C-suite exec leaves Microsoft for Alaska Airlines; Amazon leaders depart; HashiCorp CTO resigns
Lindsay-Rae McIntyre. (Alaska Airlines Photo) Lindsay-Rae McIntyre is the new chief people officer at Seattle-based Alaska Airlines. She joins the airline from Microsoft, where she most recently served as chief diversity officer and corporate VP of Talent and Learning. “There is a vast, complex world counting on Microsoft to help bend the arc of the future toward good,” McIntyre said in...
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Milestone moon mission is getting a push from Pacific Northwest tech
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Brent Urke, program manager for L3Harris’ facility in Redmond, Wash., check out a model of the Orion spaceship that’s due to take four astronauts around the moon as early as this week. Cantwell is pointing to the model’s set of eight R-4D thrusters. An actual R-4D thruster, manufactured in Redmond, is sitting on the table at far left. (GeekWire Photo / Alan...
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Chasing Starlink, Amazon Leo strikes satellite Wi-Fi deal for future Delta flights
Amazon Leo and Delta Air Lines announced a deal Tuesday for satellite-powered in-flight Wi-Fi starting in 2028. (Amazon Photo) Amazon Leo has landed its highest-profile customer yet, reaching a deal with Delta Air Lines to provide satellite-powered Wi-Fi on 500 aircraft starting in 2028. The agreement, announced Tuesday, gives Amazon’s fledgling satellite internet venture a big new partner...
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Mary Jo Foley: What the heck is going on with Microsoft lately?
Satya Nadella in November 2016, in his honeymoon period as Microsoft CEO. (GeekWire File Photo) [Editor’s Note: We’re excited to welcome Mary Jo Foley as a GeekWire contributor. Mary Jo has been one of the sharpest watchers of Microsoft for many years, currently as Editor in Chief at Directions on Microsoft, an IT planning and advisory service. She’ll be offering her take for GeekWire...
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Snap acquires assets from Rec Room as social gaming platform announces shutdown
Rec Room, the social gaming platform that reached more than 150 million players, is shutting down on June 1. (Rec Room Image) Snap Inc. confirmed late Monday that it has acquired select assets from Rec Room Inc., following the news that the Seattle-based company plans to shut down its longtime social gaming platform. Some of Rec Room’s employees will be joining Snap — but this does not...
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Portal Space’s ‘Mini-Nova’ payload goes into orbit to test technologies for maneuverable space vehicles
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sends Portal Space Systems’ “Mini-Nova” technology demonstration payload and more than 100 other payloads into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (SpaceX Photo) Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems has made its first foray into Earth orbit, in the form of a piggyback payload that will test technologies for highly maneuverable space...
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Rec Room shutting down: Once valued at $3.5B, social gaming platform finds profits elusive
Rec Room, the Seattle-based social gaming company once valued at $3.5 billion, is shutting down its platform on June 1, leaving the future of the company and its employees unclear. The company made the announcement Monday afternoon, saying it couldn’t find a path to profitability even after serving more than 150 million players over the past decade. “Despite this popularity, we never...
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Singapore’s PixVerse picks Seattle area for its first U.S. office amid $300M funding round
AI video generator PixVerse is opening an office in Bellevue, Wash., and released its latest model, which it says “delivers complex scenes with coherent motion and consistent detail.” (PixVerse Image) PixVerse, the Singapore-based AI video generator, is establishing its first U.S. office in Bellevue, Wash., and on Monday released the newest version of its model. Earlier this month the...
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